Oak Ridge girls race past Lady Devils

What a difference a little motivation can make. The Lady Wildcats led from start to finish Wednesday night behind their best start of the season to propel them to the District 3-AAA semifinals with a 45-34 win over Halls at Campbell County.

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By Robert Holder

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Robert Holder

Posted Feb. 15, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Robert Holder

Posted Feb. 15, 2013 at 6:00 AM

JACKSBORO

What a difference a little motivation can make. The Lady Wildcats led from start to finish Wednesday night behind their best start of the season to propel them to the District 3-AAA semifinals with a 45-34 win over Halls at Campbell County.

Oak Ridge (15-12) poured it on the Lady Devils early, getting a pair of big 3-pointers from Kendra Holmes and another by Whitney Mitchell to jump out to a 12-6 lead that only grew.

“Getting out to that fast start and being that aggressor, that’s what I’ve been preaching,” coach Kerra Jackson said. “That kind of got us going early and led us into transition, which really helped us early on.”

The transition offense got going in the second quarter when Holmes slashed to the basket time and time again with nice passes from Mitchell. The two, who scored 40 of the team’s 45 points, set each other up on the way to the basket to the tune of 26 first-half points.

“I think our mindset coming into the tournament has been completely different,” coach Jackson said. “The seniors are definitely playing with more confidence and I think that has given our freshmen more confidence.”

Holmes agreed about the turnaround.

“Before district we were tired and worn out,” the senior guard said. “We just had to fight through it and play as a team.”

Meanwhile, the team defense held Halls (12-14) to just three field goals in the first and third quarters and two in the second quarter.

Freshmen Taniya Smith and Caelyn Thompson created havoc in the front court for the Lady Devils guards, while Caitlyn Ledden came down with rebounds and Asia Anderson and Taylor Howe got into passing lanes.

“Everybody that went in did something for us,” coach Jackonson said. “That’s what I like to see. In the scoring column it would be nice to see everyone contribute, but a lot of people were doing the small things.

“Our defense was the difference. A lot of times they were struggling to even get a shot off. That’s a credit to the kids that got in there and really got after it.”

The win avenges the Lady Wildcats 31-38 loss to Halls just a week ago that, coupled with their loss to Powell, caused them to fall to the No. 4-seed and miss out on a first round bye.

Mitchel led all scorers with 21 points after her 20-point performance Monday against Karns. Holmes had 19. Kaitlyn Cantrell and Sarah Miller had eight to lead Halls.

The win also makes up for the Lady Wildcats performance a year ago when for first time in more than 30 years that they didn’t make it into the Region 2-AAA tournament.

Page 2 of 2 - “That was a goal,” said coach Jackson about the region berth. “I told them to be happy about it but don’t be satisfied. We still have two games ahead of us (in the district), and we want to get that top seed coming out of the district.”

To do that, Oak Ridge will return to action Saturday at 4:30 p.m. to take on No. 1-seed Anderson County. The Lady ’Cats were the only district team to defeat the Lady Mavericks this season.

“We can beat them,” coach Jackson said. “We have quickness and I think it is hard for them to match up with our quickness sometimes. It really depends on the tempo of the game who will win.”

Added Holmes, “If we bring the intensity like we had tonight, we will be able to beat them again.”